Stardust Misconception
by Arthur Hansen
Summary: The continuing AU adventures of Alexis Pierce during Operation:Stardust.


Stardust Memories Misconception.

-

"Hey, girls!" the mustachioed man yelled in a ribald way. He ran down the mobile stairs towards the bevy of female personnel on the battle-torn tarmac. The Medea air-cruiser he was exiting just one more among the flotilla on the runways, unloading people and supplies to the devastated base.

"Lieutenant Monsha, is the normal way you greet women?" a startling-cold, female voice interrupted the man.

"Who the hell are you?" he snapped back unthinkingly. "Um, sorry, sir!" Monsha pulled himself up to salute the more senior officer that was walking down from another transport.

"Lieutenant Senior Grade Pierce, recently assigned to the Albion," she said as he saluted him back. She had short, blonde hair and intense blue eyes showing underneath her uniform cap.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Monsha. How can I help you today?" he tried to say in his most suave voice. A blonde! He was going to hit a home run today.

Bate and Adel just groaned. They quickly saluted.

"So you are my new pilots?" she asked.

They all looked confused at that, sharing quick glances. "Um, we are mobilesuit pilots," Ensign Adel asked. He winced as he checked her uniform for something you just didn't see on many women, a Pilot's Insignia for Mobile Suits.

She gave him a frosty look. "That is correct. Don't you forget it. You two, go take Monsha to his barracks. It looks like he decided to hit the bottle while on duty." She gave him a veiled look of disgust. "Get him cleaned up, sobered up and on a leash."

Monsha waited until she was safely away. "Frigid bitch."

Lieutenant Bate just narrowed his eyes. "Pierce. Where have I heard that name before?"

Adel looked at the ground in deep thought as he brushed his own mustachio. His dark, European features illuminated by the bright light of the Sun. "You don't suppose it is that Pierce from the offensive in Europe?"

"The Angel of Britannia? Her? She didn't look like some Ace," Monsha said incredulously.

-

"You guys! You really made it!" Burning said with pained glee. He sat up from his sickbed.

"When we heard about you getting hurt, we just had to head on over," Bates explained. "Even over those orders from that Pierce."

"Yeah, frigid bitch," Monsha said as he took a swig. "We brought you some medicine!" He waved the bottle around.

"Yeah, we heard that some rookie pilot almost lost Unit 1." Ensign Adel shrugged.

Behind him, Kou and Keith winced at that.

"Must have been some bunch of losers to lose Unit 2 like that," the boisterous pilot Monsha added.

"For your information, I was in charge of that operation. I'd say we did all right, considering that we faced off with The Nightmare of Solomon. These are my men, Ensign Kou Uraki and Chuck Keith." They saluted sharply.

"The Nightmare of Solomon? Those kid against him? Nah, not possible," Monsha declared.

"Really, Lieutenant Burning? That's quite remarkable. I'd say Ensign Uraki has some potential then," Alexis Pierce said as she came around the curtain of the hospital.

"Ah!" Monsha tried to hide his bottle of booze protectively.

"Lieutenant Burning, I understand you are transferring to the Albion?" Alex asked while ignoring the three soldier from earlier.

"Yes. I feel responsible for the loss of Unit 2."

"Good, you will be the most senior pilot on my roster," she replied as she looked up some information on a clipboard.

"I thought Jaburo was sending three replacement pilots?" Burning said, even as he looked at the shorter woman closely.

"We all just follow orders from Jaburo," she replied enigmatically. She turned her gaze on the three other new pilots without saying anything.

"Well, I guess it's time to go get cleaned up, Monsha," Adel said suddenly. He grabbed one arm while Bates grabbed the other.

-

"Look, it's obvious that I should be the pilot of the Gundam," Monsha said in the recreation room for the pilot's barracks. He glanced over at the ensign that had lost Unit 2. "No way are they going to let some snot nosed kid have a machine like that."

"Lieutenant Monsha, that 'kid' got more performance out of the Gundam than 'experienced' pilots," Nina Purpleton said as she entered the room.

"That was just luck. A real pilot would not have lost Unit 2, now would they?" Monsha said even as Bates rolled his eyes behind him.

"Are you saying you would have faired better against Anavel Gato, Monsha?" Alexis asked from the entrance. She took off her cap.

"Anavel Gato is dead. No one has heard from him since the One Year War," Bates stated simply. "It was probably just someone using the name to scare a rookie."

"Do you think you could kill a four man team with only beamsabers?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" Adel asked, eyes narrowing in thought.

"Lieutenant Burning's team was the second one dispatched out. Whoever took out the first team killed them with only beamsabers. Matching Unit 2's scoring." Alex looked at Monsha, then asked again, "Do you think you could kill a four man team with only beamsabers?"

"Just beamsabers? That doesn't seem possible, Lieutenant Pierce." The older pilot was a bit nervous now. "I suppose if they got overconfident, it might happen."

"Very well. I will be evaluating this team to see who is best suited to pilot Unit 1. Monsha, Bates and Uraki will be in GMs. Keith and Adel will be in Guncannons." Alex stood up. "Be ready in one hour."

"What will you be in, Lieutenant?" Monsha looked upset as he thought that Pierce was going to grab the Gundam already.

"Oh, I think a Zaku will be fine." And with that, Pierce walked back out of the room.

The pilots shared an incredulous look, while Nina just looked confused.

"Why is she going to be using a Zaku?" she asked.

"She's either very confidant or she knows something we don't," Adel said. "And if she is the Angel of Britannia, I would bet on 'knowing' something."

"Angel of Britannia? What is that?" Kou asked.

"Nothing official. The Federation wasn't like the Zeon, we didn't trump up our Aces like they did. But pilots talk. She was supposed to be one of the best. Rumours even stated she might be a Zeon New Type that defected to the Federation. Near the end of the One Year War." Adel looked very serious.

"No, her English has a North American Quadrant sound. From the west Old United States, I think," Keith interjected. "She couldn't really be a Zeon Defector, could she?"

"I don't know, but she's expecting us to be ready," Kou said.

-

"How the hell does she do that in a Zaku?" screamed Monsha as he tried to dodge the Zaku as it rocketed in between the boulders of the impacted colony while shooting its paint pellets. "Ah, dammit! She got me!"

"That's three of them. All by herself?" Nina asked Mora.

The large woman just shook her head. "I've never heard of anyone ever getting this sort of performance out of a Zaku. Well, except maybe the Red Comet. But he trained exclusively in the Zaku and had his specifically modified. It wasn't normal." Mora just looked at her smaller female companion in frustration.

Kou moved his GM up and bracketed a Guncannon in his sights. "I've got you!" he shouted as he pulled the trigger.

Adel swore as his Mobilesuit shut down. "Damn kid! Pierce is the threat, not me!"

"No! Stay away!" Keith shouted as he sprayed the area on either side of the rock that Pierce had hidden behind. His paint pellets were kicking up quite a bit of dust, so he was shocked when the Zaku came right over the top, nearly as fast as a GM somehow. It twisted into a barrel-roll while continuing to fire. Paint pellets stitched a line up his Guncannon. "Damn! She got me! That isn't possible!"

"It's just me?" Kou asked rhetorically. He blasted his GM in an evasive pattern. "I've got to win!" He skidded to a halt behind another outcropping of rocks. He wasn't going to try to follow her inside the dropped colony. That's how she had gotten Bate earlier.

His ragged breathing filled his ears loudly. Something moved off to the side, catching his attention. He started firing immediately, paint splattering over the GM shield as it skidded to a halt. "No! A trick!" He turned around, when he felt something above him at just the last moment. The last thing he saw was the Zaku stitching a line of pain and shutting him down.

Minutes later, they were all back at base, in the cavernous bunkers that normally held the Mobilesuits. Alex stood in front of them all, still wearing her flight suit. "So, men, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Monsha looked like he was about to explode. "That's some Zaku you had there, Lieutenant!"

The sandy-blonde haired girl smiled at that. "I wouldn't know. It was the only spare this base had after last night's attack."

Keith scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I think I was in that Zaku two months ago. I had no idea it could do things like that."

"That was a normal Zaku?" Monsha shouted as he surged to his feet. He seemed outraged that he could be beaten so easily.

"I believe we just covered that." She stared him down. Then she looked at all of the other pilots. "Who do you think did the best out of you five?"

Bate didn't look happy, but finally replied, "Ensign Uraki, sir!"

"Why?" she asked intently.

The other pilots looked surprised at that. "He actually scored one point in our free-for-all," Keith said.

"You're right, he followed orders. After I took out Bates, the rest of you all decided to gang up on me, hoping to overwhelm me. Bates and Monsha are the most seasoned, but Kou has the best instincts. He knew right then that you wouldn't be able to 'get' me so managed to get second place by scoring at least once."

Adel gave Kou an open appraisal. "Seems you read the kid right."

"So Ensign Uraki will be the backup pilot for Unit 1. Keith and Adel will be in Guncannons. Monsha, Bate and Uraki will be piloting the GMs we have. We're short one Mobilesuit when Lieutenant Burning is up and about." Alex grabbed her helmet. "You are all dismissed."

"Where are you heading, sir?" Kou asked.

"I'm checking the new Gundam out. I want to see what differences there are with the new model."

"She was a Gundam pilot?" Keith asked the other pilots as she walked off.

Mora walked passed Alex to the group of pilots, Nina in tow. "Yeah, and then some. I managed to pull up her list of confirmed kills from the One Year War. Very impressive."

"From what you could access, you mean," Nina interjected. "Most of her records are locked under high security."

"I guess we will have to watch closely, then, won't we," Monsha said with a threat in his tone of voice.

-

The Albion had reached the east coast of Africa and was beginning its part of the search for the stolen Unit 2. But for some, it was the same old work as always. Mora Bascht was working on the core fighter for Unit 1, making sure that everything was working at combat readiness. And she was being interrupted.

"No can do. That is strictly against regs and you know it," the engineer said as she pulled her head out of the access panel.

"Lieutenant Bascht, this needs to be handled with discretion. Altering the fusion engines to emit a low level Mynoskivy particle on this wavelength only decreases its power output by .001 percent. I don't want to have to make a fuss, but if I must order you to get it done, I will." Alexis Pierce seemed very intent in her full uniform. She had never raised her voice or anything.

"It just doesn't make any sense. If you will sign off on the variance form, I guess I can do it." Mora wiped her hands off the hydraulic fluids she had been working with.

"All of the units?" Alexis seemed quite determined about this for some reason.

The giantess of a woman sighed. "Yes, all of them."

"Good. This will help me and Kou, I think," the Mobilesuit pilot muttered softly to herself.

"If you say so." Mora just didn't know what to make of the alteration. It seemed too inconsequential. Many ships engines ran _ragged_ and leaked this sort of radiation as a matter of course. The exotic particle would not do anything to a person, but it might show up on some sensor.

As she watched the pilot walk off, she got a cold chill. Could she be a Zeon spy?

"Hey, Mora! Why the serious face?" Nina asked as she walked in with her diagnostic pad.

"Ah, nothing much. Just going to adjust the Epsilon-Theta output quotient on the fusion generator," she replied.

"Really? On Luna, they only recently started to make sure those emissions were curtailed for some reason. The scuttlebutt is that the Federation ordered it at the end of the war." Nina plugged in the unit as a matter of course. "These readings are fine. You don't need to adjust that quotient at all. Perfectly in specification."

"Must have been a bug in my tester. I'll double check it later," Mora said with a laugh. As soon as Nina had turned her back, her expression turned grim. Maybe there was something to this that she didn't know yet. Maybe something more than spywork.

-

"This is nuts! This hand sucks!" Monsha yelled as he threw his cards up into the air.

"You were the one who wanted to play cards," Bates reminded.

"I just hate doing nothing." The brown-haired pilot said with a scowl. His mustachio was nearly bristling.

"You just hate not being allowed to drink while in combat ready alert," Alex said as she was walking by, reading a book.

"Yeah, what of it?" Monsha said snidely as he stood up.

"I'm actually impressed by your forbearance. It's been at least four hours, hasn't it?" she replied with a slight grin.

"Hey, I have a lot of self control." He got a sudden grin. "So, you want to head to the commissary?"

Adel and Bates just sighed and groaned theatrically. Alex just shook her head. "Sorry, I just ate. I've got to keep up my girlish figure. Besides, I think you need to work on your _self control_ a bit more. That was the second time you hit on me today."

"But lieutenant!"

"Here comes Uraki now," she said suddenly.

"Why are you so interested in him, any ways?" Adel asked curiously.

"I'm testing his limits. He's got potential." She pulled out a palm sized computer interface. "Let's see how he handles an emergency landing with no lights."

The returning core fighter was backing in slowly for easier launch turn around, standard for non-combat landings. Suddenly, the landing lights cut out and smoke started billowing out to fill the landing bay. Shouts and yelling from the maintenance crew were heard, ordering fire equipment.

Uraki was sweating heavily, suddenly. "Ahhhh!" he screamed as he tried to land the fighter almost blindly. Suddenly, he felt _something_ and adjusted his controls.

"He... he made it!" Monsha shouted. "He's not that good!"

Alex let the emergency crew finish putting out the 'fire' from the smoke grenades. Then she walked down there to stand next to him. Kou looked up as Lieutenant Pierce watched him coolly. She smiled suddenly. "Good job, everyone."

Over the PA system, Captain Synapse voice came over to offer his view of the events. "I would like to offer Ensign Uraki our condolences for having to put him in a little danger for that drill. He came through admirably with no damage to his craft. To our maintenance crew, I would like to offer my heartfelt admiration for your spotless performance. That is all."

"You set that up with the Captain's permission?" Adel asked coolly.

"Of course. We're all getting a bit on edge. It's been weeks with no sign of Unit 2. We needed some distractions." She gave the pilots a speculative look. "So, are you guys up for some basketball?"

-

"Ha! That's 15 to 11, Pierce!" Monsha said with a catcall. "We're going to stomp on you three!"

Alex grinned. "Game's not over yet, Monsha!" She passed the basketball over to Kou who started to dribble down the court. He stopped, looked to shoot and then passed to his friend Keith. He then drove in under the hoop and passed back out to Alex who faked a pass back out to Kou but then twisted into a two point score. "See?"

Adel just laughed. "She's got you there, Monsha!" He took the ball to pass to Bate who started to drive down the field.

"Hey? Whose side are you on, any ways?" Monsha yelled as he received the ball. He started to dribble towards the hoop. He passed it to Bate who skirted the edge and then slipped it right back. Kou snagged it and started running it back down the impromptu basketball court. On the sidelines, a few technicians cheered as Kou took an easy lay up and tied the score.

"Come on! We can't let these losers beat us!" Monsha shouted. "God dammit!"

"Way to build up your team there, Monsha!" Alex catcalled. She almost stole the ball when Adel passed to Bates. He then passed the ball back to Monsha who took a three point shot that caromed off the hoop and into Keith's waiting hands. "Is everyone not on your side losers?"

"Hey, yeah! I'm no loser!" Keith shouted.

Finally, ten minutes later, Alex's team won 30 to 29. They all collapsed panting.

"Thought you had us there for a second, Monsha," Alex sad after a minute. She stood back up and started stretching. On her left leg, a pale scar was visible next to her groin. "I almost owed Burning a steak dinner there."

"God dammit! I can't believe we lost!" Monsha said to his friends.

Mora just laughed from the sidelines. "I still can't believe you got the Captain's okay to do this, Lieutenant Pierce."

"We're still in the bay, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice."

Nina was watching from the upper deck as the computer worked on yet another diagnostic from Unit 1. The computer beeped at her.

Suddenly, sirens started to whine. "Lock down all exits! Nick Orville is to be apprehended at all costs!" the Captain's voice boomed over the PA.

On the bridge, the watch officer yelled, "Port Bay opening! I can't lock it down!"

Suddenly, the spare Core Fighter rocketed out, wildly out of control. The spy had managed to escape the ship.

"Follow that ship!" Captain Synapse shouted.

-

Unit 1 launched into the air to land on the ground heavily. Without pause, it took off at a run. Behind it landed Kou's GM and Keith's Guncannon.

"The captain thinks the spy was heading to a base in this area. It may be the lead we need to catch Unit 02," Alex told the other two pilots. "Stick with me and we should be fine. Kou, on my left and a bit behind. Keith, I want you to fall back for fire support."

"Yes, sir!" Kou replied.

Just few minutes later, they spotted a missile trail and debris trails in the air.

"They shot down their own man! We must be close to their base. Kou! Keith! If you were building a base around here, where would you put it?"

Kou started scanning around. "I'd put it in that hill. I think someone said it was an abandoned mine of some sort."

Keith had been looking around too. "Zaku! It's the ZEON!" he shouted.

"Lay down suppressing fire!" Alex shouted. The range was too far even for her Gundam's beam rifle or the Guncannon, but she still scorched a Zaku that was a little too slow.

The other Zakus immediately pulled back and into the cover of the forest.

"Kou, I need you and Keith to head to that mine! That is probably the base. I will distract these guys. I think they are trying to pull us away." Alex flipped a switch to long range communication. "Captain Synapse! We've encountered the enemy, but they appear trying to draw us away from a base. I think they've got that mine under their control."

"I'll send out Bate's team and the Albion will approach at full speed."

"I think they are trying to delay us, sir!" Alex replied. Her image on the screen of the Albion suddenly wavered. "Under fire, Gundam over and out."

Alex turned her full attention to the three Zaku's that were trying to pull her away from the supposed base. "Kou, Keith? Can you set up a quick ambush?"

Kou looked around. "You got it! Keith, head over to that ridge, I'll head over to its opposite side."

The RX-78GP01 Gundam suddenly turned and fled away from the Zaku's at full throttle, almost skimming across the ground like a cruise missile in great bounds.

The Zaku pilots were quite surprised. That was not what they were expecting. "He's getting away!" one of the Zaku pilot's shouted. "Right towards the base!"

"We have to try and stop them! All units, converge!" his leader shouted. "For Zeon!"

They had only progressed a mile or so before they came under blistering cross-fire. "An ambush!" screamed one unfortunate pilot as he exploded.

The Zeon Base Commander Neuen Bitter winced even as his modified Zaku started to warm up in the base. "We may have to launch the HLV early, Lieutenant Commander Gato."

Gato narrowed his eyes. "What is going on?"

"The Feddies are already here. They just wiped out our diversionary force! Whoever is piloting that Gundam knows his stuff." His Zaku rose and headed out with the main Zeon force. Six Zaku's should be enough to at least slow them down.

Bitter exited the main hanger doors to see the Gundam rocketing forward, beam cannon taking out the last of the defensive particle cannons. The Federation battleship was approaching at range.

"Gato! Launch now! We have no choice! For ZEON! _FOR OPERATION STARDUST!_" the commander shouted. He pushed his Zaku to its fullest, jump back rocketing him forward.

"They got jump packs!" Alex shouted. The Gundam launched after the Zaku's that were charging the Albion suicidally. "Kou! Keith! Stop them! Bates! I want your team on the Albion for defensive fire!" The Gundam fired and took out one of the trailing Zaku's.

Kou's rapid fire from his pulse gun only slowed down one of the Zaku, it was not stopped. The Zaku pulled a heat axe to close to melee, hoping to overwhelm the pilot. The GM side-stepped the first swing, even as he pulled out his own beam saber. The GM then returned the melee attack with a blistering riposte, cutting it in half.

The HLV started to turn on its heavy, nuclear thrusters. Gato, ensconced in Unit 2 that was mounted in the hold of the HLV upper bay, winced. This was almost a half an hour too soon. It would be very hard to make his rendezvous. The HLV started to lift.

On the bridge of the Albion, Captain Synapse responded almost instantly. "It's a HLV launch! Lock mega-particle cannons on and fire!"

The Albion fired, but only barely grazed the HLV as it appeared.

"I can't lock on!" the gunnery officer shouted.

"They've saturated the area with Mynovsky particles!" Alex shouted into the com. "At that density, you will need a direct hit to take them out! You need to fire a missile or kinetic weapon! It's a beam dispersion field."

"Can we hit it with anything?" Synapse shouted. The HLV continued to lift off, rapidly gaining speed.

"No sir! We don't have the range! SIR! Incoming! The Zakus are trying to overwhelm our defences and take out the bridge!" he suddenly yelled.

Two Zaku broke through with the vertical jump, both armed with hyper-bazookas! The bridge was nowhere near heavily armoured enough to survive that. The subordinate Zaku was waxed by defensive fire from the Albion itself, but the lead Zaku had used it to get into a blind zone above them.

Nina Purpleton screamed in terror as she saw the Zaku lining up the shot through the bridge windows. Burning and the rest of the crew on the bridge were frozen. There was nothing they could do.

Suddenly, beams from two angles hit the Zaku dead on, breaching its reactor in a cataclysmic explosion.

"That was the last combatant, sir!" the gunnery officer shouted hoarsely.

Captain Synapse relaxed in his seat. "Yes, indeed. Thank god."

Kou took control of his breathing. He hadn't thought he could reach that far. "I got it?" he managed to make out.

"You _and_ Lieutenant Pierce. I've never seen such a good shot!" Keith said with reverence.

"Thanks, Keith!" he replied.

"Both of you are way out of range! I don't get it! That was amazing!"

Kou checked his rangefinder. "1300 meters? That's at the edge of the shots going plasmatic!" And he realized that Pierce was even further back. That _should_ be impossible.

"Inform high command that we believe that the HLV was carrying Unit 2 and what vector it was going on," Captain Synapse said on the bridge.

Alex smiled tightly. Let's see how the old man played the regs. She flipped on her communicator. "Captain, shouldn't we transmit that directly to orbital command?"

"I can't buck the chain of authority. You know that, Lieutenant Pierce." He gave her a very heavy look.

"Of course, sir. But you could have orbital command relay your findings." She seemed to take a moment as if thinking. "I'd suggest a wider beam than normal, with low encryption. Due to Mynovski interference, of course."

"Really? That's quite the interesting thought there." Synapse looked over at his communication officer. "Do it exactly as the Lieutenant suggested."

-

"There's the HLV, sir!" the bridge officer of the Federation Salamis cruiser called out to his captain.

"Prepare to fire on my mark!" the captain called out. "I want it and Unit 2 destroyed in the first shot!"

"We are within range!"

"FIRE!" he ordered.

Their primaries beams burned the void towards the upper stage of the HLV, impacting spectacularly. There was nothing left.

"Sir! Incoming Mobilesuit!" another officer shouted.

"What? Is it... Unit 2?" the captain shouted.

"He must have abandoned the HLV to sucker us! He's almost on us!"

Unit 2 screamed in from the void like an avenging angel, the hyperbazooka smashing the bridge and all of its officers to plasma on his first strike.

"Damn the Feddies! How could the unclean masses do this?" Anavel Gato shouted, even as he switched to his particle cannon to blast deep through its armour to destroy the Salamis's engines.

A light beeped on his console. He breathed a sigh of relief as he opened the channel. "It's about time you got here! This place is going to be crawling with Feddies soon!"

"We know, sir! But someone on the ground near that HLV base pulled a fast one. They practically broadcasted your location to everyone this side of Luna! Feddie Captains have been almost falling over themselves to get you anyway they can!" The captain of the recovering Musai ship looked unhappy. "I can't see us getting out of here unscathed."

"Damn them!" Anavel thought hard for a minute as the three cruisers closed the distance. "Prepare to set up an external umbilical. On all ships."

"Sir? I don't understand," the captain of the lead Musai said in consternation.

"It's easy enough. Unit 2 _**must**_make it to Admiral Delaz. To do that, I must stay in Unit 2 until we have escaped this death trap. If I am on the outside of your ships, they have to blast all the way through your entire command to get me."

"Brilliant. And if one ship is lost, you can just transfer to the next one!"

-

"Hey, Nina! I think these calculations are correct for Unit 1 now!" Kou yelled to her.

Nina rolled her eyes. "You're not the pilot of Unit 1, so why are you so worried about making it space functional?" She turned back to her computers that were hooked up to Gundam Unit 1.

"Well, Lieutenant Pierce did say I was the backup pilot. So I've been practicing, just in case." And totally oblivious to her growing irritation. "I think I've finally figured out the vector-thrust ratio for the zero-gee sensor inputs."

"Ensign Uraki! We are trying to work here!" Nina finally shouted.

Mora winced. "Hey now!"

"If you would quit-"

"Ensign Uraki! Nina Purpleton! What is the meaning of this?" Lt. Alexis Pierce snapped out as she entered the main launch bay.

Kou suddenly lurched to attention so fast his feet lost magnetic contact. His face started to burn in embarrassment. "I-I was trying to get Miss Purpleton to double check some figures."

Her hand lashed out with a hard slap, sending him flying in the low gravity. "You are a Federation Officer, Ensign! I expect you to act with decorum in public! You will _ask_ Miss Purpleton to check your figures at _her_ convenience. Do you understand?" she shouted in his face.

"Yes, sir!"

"You are confined to quarters when not on duty for one week!" Alex then turned to Nina. "Miss Purpleton, have you finished readying Unit 1 for space combat?"

"But the ships GMs are far better suited to deep space combat until we get the full vernier system installed on Luna!" Nina was startled by coming under the anger the lieutenant.

"Miss Purpleton, I realize that as a civilian that you are not _directly_ under my command. But we are in a situation where we may be in a battle at _any_ time! You will have Unit 1 ready for emergency combat _immediately!_ Lives are dependent on your actions. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Nina's face had drained of all color.

"Hey!" Mora started to retort.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Bascht, if you have a problem with this I expect that you will find me at a later time. In private." Alex's expression looked very grim and foreboding, stopping any comment.

Mora stiffened to attention. "Yes, sir!"

"Miss Purpleton, if you could see what you can do to optimize the Gundam for space combat, it would be appreciated. If you need me, I am heading to the bridge," Pierce said with a nod. She then pushed off towards the exit that led to the elevator.

As soon as she was out of sight, Kou turned to Nina. "I'm sorry about that Miss Purpleton. I was distracting you from your work. If you could look at those numbers, I'd really appreciate." He turned to leave.

"No, I really should have already installed the control programs. I shouldn't have put that off. Where are you off to?" she asked in return.

"I'll be in my quarters." He made a little bobbing bow.

"Then I'll drop by once I'm done here. Come on, Mora. Let's get Unit 1 space-ready."

Alex listened for just a minute longer, out of sight. God, she hated busting lower ranks when they screwed up, but she had to diffuse that situation somehow. Now that they had their anger directed at her, maybe they would ship up. She needed everyone acting like responsible adults.

She took a zip-cord up to the bridge. She took off her hat as she entered. "Lieutenant Pierce to see Captain Synapse."

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" the captain asked.

"I have a request concerning the disposition of the Mobilesuit Pilots for space duty, sir."

"Oh? Please go on?"

Behind the captain, Lieutenant Burning stifled an irritated look. He should have been the senior pilot here. Damn his broken leg and that she'd made rank earlier than him.

"I am requesting that a pilot with more space experience be put in charge until I am able to familiarize myself with space combat and tactics." Her face was very schooled.

"That's a very unusual request, Lieutenant. You do not have to subordinate yourself in this situation." Captain Synapse leaned forward.

"My skills are entirely based on ground combat, sir. This is the first time I've ever been in space. I won't let my pride get men killed."

"I have to say, that took a lot of courage Lieutenant Pierce. I will assign Lieutenant Burning to overall command and Lieutenant JG Bate to combat command and training. When would you start on your own training?" the captain asked.

"As soon as our relative distance from Earth allows for it, sir!"

"Astrogation? How long until we are far enough orbit out for Mobilesuit operations?"

"About three hours at our rate of ascent." The astrogator looked up from her console.

"Your permission to leave?"

"Granted. Good luck, Lieutenant." Captain Synapse waited until she left, then turned to Burning. "That was not at all what I expected."

"I feel bad for bringing up my concerns, sir."

"I don't see why, Lieutenant Burning. They are, after all, the same ones she brought up herself."

Burning looked out the window across the curve of Earth. "I know, sir. I think I understand why she was called the Angel of Britannia."

"You don't really think she's a Zeon defector, do you?"

"No, sir. But she is a conscientious commander and loyal to a fault. I understand why she can inspire the kinds of loyalty that would make her unit follow her into the very teeth of hell."

-

_Two days later:_

Commander Cima Garahau tapped her chin thoughtfully with her folded up fan. "How long until we intercept the _Albion_?"

"We figure within the hour."

"Good. Prepare the attack. I will be leading it."

-

Alex Pierce was finishing her shower when she felt a presence, inimical and threatening. She threw on her uniform in just moments.

"Lieutenant Pierce to the bridge!" she yelled into the communicator.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" the Captain Synapse responded. He quirked an eyebrow at the sudden interruption.

"I feel we are about to come under attack by Zeon forces. Six of them, two o'clock high. They will be here any time," she said.

"What? Focus the thermal sensors in that quadrant," Synapse thundered.

"We are detecting enemy mobilesuits at extreme range. That was a good job of spotting them lieutenant!" the bridge officer replied to his captain. He hit the alert for the entire ship. "Battle stations!"

Monsha suddenly popped up on the video screen from his GM. "Are you daft or something? Pierce is inside the Albion! There's no way she could detect an incoming force!"

"Bate! I want your team to intercept them as far out as possible." Captain Synapse shared a confused glance with Lieutenant Burning, who just shrugged back.

"Kou! Keith! We need to launch immediately. I'm going to be a bit of a lame duck in Unit 1, so I'll need you to make sure I don't buy it!" Alex shouted as he jammed her helmet on.

"Right." Kou was already sealing the GM he had been assigned to.

Keith just looked terrified. "Why are they attacking?"

"The Zeon never fully gave in at the end of the One Year War. They've turned pirate and privateer. They've been raiding ever since." Alex flipped a switch as she strapped herself in. "Bates, where do you want my team?"

"You are going to be holding a defensive position near the Albion. Monsha and Adel will be with me as we spearhead a counter attack." Bate sent his GM rocketing forward, Monsha and Adel following him closely.

The GMs suddenly ranged into targeting and opened fire. The Zeon Gelgoogs turned sharply, but one of them lost a leg.

"Got you!" Monsha shouted. He barely spun his high performance GM out of the way from an oddly coloured Gelgoog. "That's suits been suped up! Watch out guys!"

"They are breaking through!" Adel shouted, manoeuvring his Gun Cannon to take a shot that went wide of a dodging Gelgoog.

"Team Two requesting suppression barrage. We'll go in right after it. Kou, you have lead! Keith and I will back you up." Alex was not very happy, the Gundam was wallowing like a pig in the mud. At least it was semi-functional.

The Albion spat out a long-range barrage, designed to slow down Mobilesuits. The Gelgoogs went evasive, decreasing their danger from the Albion itself, but leaving it open to engagement with both Mobilesuit teams.

Cima screamed in anger. These Feddies were far too good. After she lost her second pilot, she yelled out, "Retreat! Fall back to the ship!" Her mobilesuit was nearly hashed from that GM pilot that was helping defend the Albatross.

-

"To victory," Captain Synapse said with a nod and a gesture with his filled cup. He filled Lieutenant Burning's drink as he sat on the couch. Micro gravity kept the drinks from spilling under their acceleration.

"How has Lieutenant Pierce's training going?" Synapse asked Burning.

"She's done, basically. She's got the basics down and is probably the most attentive pilot I've ever seen."

"So, Lieutenant Burning? When is the doc removing that cast?" Synapse asked.

"When we reach Luna in just a few days. He wants to wait then for the final checkup," the injured man said, grimacing in frustration.

"Now, now, Lieutenant Burning. I want you back in a mobilesuit as much as anyone," the captain said. "But I want you at one hundred percent, too." There was a knock at the door. "Enter!"

"Lieutenant Pierce reporting, sir!" Alex said with a sharp salute.

"At ease." It was just easier to make it a command than to try and explain that this was just a gathering after a victory. "We're just celebrating being alive another day."

"I'll drink to that, sir!" She found a glass and let him fill it with bourbon. After she sipped it lightly, she spoke up. "There is more to this than just wanting to share a drink, isn't it?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I have been going over your records and I need some things clarified, within the bounds of our respective security clearances. Why are most of your records locked?" Captain Synapse sat his hands on his knees.

Alex pursed her lips in thought. "You are all aware that the Federation does not hold with the idea that there is any such thing as New Types, correct?"

They both nodded. It was quite common that the Federation did not really believe is a new race of humans that was superior to the old.

"That's only for public consumption. Because the Zeon tied their revolution to the New Type phenomena, the Federation does feel that it would be in their best interest to go public with the fact that there is such a thing." They both looked at bit surprised at that, but nodded. It sounded just like the Federation and their want to control information. "Several New Types were found on both sides of the conflict. The first one on the Federation side was Amuro Rei. He wasn't a soldier and was not very happy. But without him, we would have likely lost the space side of the war. I was the second discovered."

"You are a Newtype? I suspected, but I didn't think the upper echelons believed in it. It was only ever rumors," Burning said.

"The entire crew of the White Base was thought to be New Types to one degree or another," Synapse spoke softly.

"A Newtype is physically no different from any other human. But it is our minds that lay a strategic ability. The ability to mentally detect aggressive thoughts and react on them to protect their own lives." Alex sipped at her drink. "This mental ability acts like a precognitive protection. It isn't fool proof. I was captured during an operation in Europe."

"I read about that in your records. You got the Lion's Cross for that. So can you actually see the future?" Lieutenant Burning asked curiously.

"I _may_ be able to," she answered enigmatically. "Ensign Kou Uraki might also be a Newtype. I'm testing him to see if he is or not. He may be borderline, able to be brought into operant status."

"So what does that have to do with re-tuning our fusion generators?" Captain Synapse asked suddenly.

Alex cursed silently. Moria had obviously asked around and it had made it to the captain. "I am not at liberty to say sir. That is a high secret."

Synapse squinted at her for a second, thinking. "Of course, you would not be able to tell me if this has anything to do with the Newtype phenomena?"

Alex smirked just barely. "That is also a high secret."

"Very well, I will instruct the engineers to leave those settings. Would you need the engines of the Albatross re-tuned?" he asked.

"I could not _ask _you to do that, sir."

"Of course." But she didn't say he shouldn't do it either.

-

Alex stared at the visage of Vice Admiral Aiguille Delaz as he denounced the Federation and declared a war that should have stayed dead. She carefully lifted her glass of apple juice to her lips and sipped. She then carefully set the glass down on the table of the nearly empty mess hall.

Ensign Kou Uraki suddenly slammed his hands down on the table. "What does he think he is doing?"

His commanding officer stood up. She settled her cap on her head. "He's being a sore loser." Her eyes seemed to be chiseled of cold, uncaring ice. "He would rather drag everyone to their deaths over misguided ideals."

Nina Purpleton and Mora Bascht were trying to do their best impression of trees and just listen. Kou was not deterred though. "What do you mean, Lieutenant?"

"He's no better than any warmonger. He learned of the creation of the questionably legal Unit 2 but instead of revealing the information in such a way to show that the Federation had broken the Antarctic Treaty, he stole it." She looked directly over Kou, Chuck and Monsha. "And why do you think he stole it, gentlemen?"

"I dunno, Lieutenant," Monsha drawled out.

"Get your head out of your ass, Monsha!" she suddenly shouted as she slammed her hands down on the table in front of him. "You are supposed to be an officer! Officers _think_, dammit!"

Kou suddenly stood up at attention. "What do you think they will do?"

"Ensign Uraki, do you think any weapon less than a solar weapon could defeat the Federation?" she snapped out.

"No, Sir!"

"Then why steal a weapon that can not inflict a telling blow and then splash it all over the airwaves?" she glared at him, daring him to state the obvious.

"As a distraction, Sir! A distraction?" he replied in wonderment at his own thinking.

"A very loud one. A very public one, designed to anger us into missing their real plan." She sat back down and picked up her glass.

"Do you know what they are planning?" Keith asked.

She shook her head. "No. But we must keep our eyes open. When we see them move, we must push ourselves to see their next four moves then."

-

"Von Braun, jewel of the moon. Looks like we actually get some leave here, boys. Don't get jailed or I'll leave you in the brig until you are all bald! Do you go that?" Alex shouted out the last as they exited

"Yes, sir!" all of the pilots shouted.

"Oh, and Burning? Don't break that leg of yours again! I want to see you get some low gravity practice," she yelled out after him. She picked up her duffel bag and headed into the city. After stopping at the nearest rest room, she was dressed in regular jeans, t-shirt and a leather jacket. After that, she checked a directory and headed out into the city. Level after level she dropped through, seemingly searching for something in particular.

Finally she found herself in one of the lowest levels of the city, far from the bustle of the space port and the newer housing. The run down buildings and entrances proclaimed that magic was alive. Looking around, she didn't see anyone following her.

But that didn't mean they weren't. She took a deep breath and then felt outwards for anyone that sought harm against her. She immediately felt several presences within just a few hundred feet. She opened the door and waved at the woman behind the counter. "Hello!" she called out. She puttered around in the shop, buying some crystals and a book that her mother would have liked.

She stepped out of the shop and headed down the road and turned the corner. "Mrs. Pierce, exactly what are you doing?" a muscular man in a black suit and sunglasses asked. He was leaning casually on the wall.

"Just buying some trinkets. Nothing illegal in that, right?" she replied flatly.

"You weren't planning on passing any secrets on, were you?" the Earth Federation spook asked.

"There? I didn't know that the Zeon ran their spy rings through charlatan shops," she replied, looking a bit confused.

"No, but the Marduk Institute does. They cull through their clients, looking for powerful Newtypes. I would suggest you keep away from Spacenoid businesses like that in the future." The big man turned to walk away.

"I'll take that under advisement, Mr. Long." She turned and walked off herself.

-

It was later that day that she returned to the Albion with her shopping bags that she found out that one of her pilots had not returned timely. "Kou, you are a pain in the ass. All right, Keith. Let the duty guard at the dock know that he's missing and we'll go looking for him."

It was quite late and after they'd hit most of the bars that any information showed up. "Lieutenant Pierce!" Chuck Keith called out. "Kou finally checked in with the ship. He got himself beat up by some Zeon sympathizers. Guess someone found him and he happened to be sober enough to remember to check in."

"Well, at least he had enough mind for that. I'll drop by and make sure he isn't being held captive or something," Alex said. She looked at her watch. "Well, in about four hours after I get some rack time."

The next morning after a quick shower, Alex headed down to the lowest levels of Van Braun where she found an old style wrecking yard. She walked across the field to the house. A young woman answered the door, looking even more worried when she noted the officer pins. "Hello, ma'am. I'm Lieutenant Pierce. I understand you rescued one of my pilots?"

"My husband, actually." The dark-haired woman immediately disappeared to bring a big, burly blond man to the door.

Kelly Layzner looked over the professional looking soldier in front of him with distaste. "You here to see Kou?"

"Just to check on him. You know, junior officer, mother hen. All the same thing!" Alex said with a small smile. She was led to the battered pilot.

Kou stood up shakily to salute. "Sorry for the trouble, sir."

"It's expected of young pilots," Alex replied as she accepted his salute. "Just don't make it a big habit, okay?"

"Yes sir." Kou followed her out as Kelly escorted them to the jeep.

Kelly shook both of their hands. "Take care, kid. Try to figure out what you are doing first, okay?"

As Alex was shaking his hand, trying to ignore his missing arm, she had a sudden flash of insight. In the large hanger a large, hulking shape that could only be a Mobile Armor. Kelly was arguing over what would happen.

"Are you all right?" Kelly asked, feeling nervous suddenly.

"No, I'm fine. Come on, Kou. Let's get back to the ship." They piled into the jeep and drove off. Back on the ship, she released Kou.

Then she made a call to Naval Intelligence.

-

Cima stepped out of the car later that week, scanning the area quickly behind her sun glasses. "Kelly Layzner. You have the item that we requested?" the renegade Zeon fleet commander asked.

"Yes. I'm almost done, I just need a few more parts and a bit of installation." The ex-Zeon pilot was almost grinning.

"Well, as it isn't finished, we'll assess a penalty. Five percent of the fee," the cut-throat officer said with a cruel smirk.

Suddenly, sirens sounded from the edge of the property. "This is the Earth Federation Intelligence Agency! We have you surrounded," a booming voice echoed. "Give up and you won't be harmed."

Cima's grin just grew wider, even as Kelly looked on in horror. "Mia!" he shouted.

"Don't move, fool. They will gun you down if you so much as breathe hard," she ordered. Then she yelled out, "Officer! I think you had better check the news!"

The EFIA soldiers stopped, but kept covering the doorways. They listened in horror as terrorists demanded the release of prisoners or they would start a nuclear meltdown on an old freighter parked right next to a passenger liner. Hundreds of lives were directly endangered.

"Let's talk of lives and their importance," the ruthless Zeon renegade called out.

-

Captain Synapse snarled as he banged his fist on his shock-frame chair on the bridge of the Albion. "Damn them. Have they no shame?"

"The gun-runner was more cunning than we thought," Alex said pensively.

Burns looked at her. "What? Do you know what this is all about?" the old pilot asked.

"I gave a tip-off about a possible mobile armor that was located in Van Braun."

Monsha and Bate both whistled at that. "A mobile armor? Damn, someone wants a big can of whoop-ass!" the moustachioed pilot cried out dramatically.

"Captain, these gun-runners are probably working for the Delaz Fleet. That would be a big increase in their firepower. We can't let them escape," Alex said intently.

"We have a Mexican Standoff. We go rushing in there, we are going to get people killed," Synapse said, looking at her hard.

"I'm suggesting we plan an ambush if they just happen to escape. I doubt anyone here has the iron will to stand up to these demands. They'll probably be free and out with that monstrosity." She was looking at him intently.

"A bit tricky with the port locked down... but probably well worth the effort."

-

Cima walked onto her freighter like she was queen of the world. "Is it loaded already?" she asked. At the crews nod, she snapped out, "Let's get out of here before they start to think of something heroic to die for!"

Kelly Layzner just gave her a disgusted look which she pretended not to notice.

The freighter launched, lifting off easily. The captain of the freighter was listening to some reports as Cima walked in. "I was a bit worried, but it looks like we are clear."

"What was there to be worried about?" she demanded.

"That carrier left port just a day ago. It has more than enough power to erase us from the universe, but it seems like he had something more important than stopping us on his mind. We'll be able to make it to our fleet before they can hope to intercept." He nodded at a console next to him.

"Ah, someone tried to think ahead. He's heading towards what he thinks might be the Delaz Fleet in the nearest Shoal Zone." Cima smiled thinly. "Fool."

"Looks like they've finally disabled our little present back at the dock in Van Braun," Kelly said, his voice cold in anger. He was listening in to a different channel from the colony.

"Too late for them. Maybe if that carrier had been here, they could have done something." Cima's eyes were happy within her dark beauty.

An hour later, alarms started to jangle on the bridge. "Heat source! Three mobilesuits coming over the horizon, burning right towards us!" the captain shouted.

"What? How?" She shook her head quickly. "Never mind. Launch the Zaku." Her MS pilot and Kelly head towards the cargo area.

The Zaku was much easier to launch than the mobile armor, streaking to intercept the three Federation MS. It was Gundam Unit 1 and two GMs.

"All right. Kou, I would you to double-team with Burns. I'll take point," Alex ordered.

The Full Vernier Unit 1 roared off, dodging the old machine gun bursts from the Zaku; the new Full Vernier add-ons incredibly increasing the speed of the already fast Gundam. She was almost there when the Val Varo launched. The huge, red mobile armor almost exploded out at full speed.

Kelly Layzner grinned. "Let's see what you've got, Gundam." The huge particle beam cannon opened and then fired, only to miss by a small margin beyond even particle wash damage. "Slippery little guy, aren't you."

"Kou! Burns! Finish off that Zaku, but keep your distance from this monster if you can! It's extremely dangerous!" the pilot of RX-78GP01 ordered, going to full throttle as the Val Varo increased its speed.

The Val Varo suddenly turned, rocketing forwards as huge manipulator arms unfurled like claws on a crab. "I won't be useless anymore!" Kelly shouted he shoved the control stick forward.

Space seemed to pulse around Alex as lines of possibility and probability within her. The GP01 passed over the claw by the barest of margins, spread-eagled like a sky-diver. The Gundam almost groaned as it spun in a blur. The beam rifle fired three times. The first shot sheered the claw from the Val Varo, but it's two follow up shots spattered over its tough armor as it flew out of effective range almost instantly.

"How?" the pilot of the Val Varo cried.

Kou yelled as he shoved all of his thrusters to full. His GM rocketed forward at the old Zaku. In a flash, the Zaku pulled its heat-axe, forcing Kou to dodge. Burning had moved up behind the Zaku, sheering off its legs and weapon arm.

On the still fleeing freighter, Cima frowned as she read the sensors. "That Val Varo was everything Kelly said it was. But that mobilesuit... I've only seen results like that but once."

The captain of the freighter looked up in worry. "What?"

"A Gundam from White Base during the war. Jettison the cargo and melt the engines if you have to. We must escape," Cima ordered as she snapped shut her fan that she'd been toying with.

The Val Varo and GP01 continued to duel, a spiraling dance of death at rocketing speeds. Kelly was starting to become afraid as the Gundam dodged again and again, just before he could fire and hit it. "I won't go back!" Kelly screamed as something finally triggered within him, resonating with the Gundam that he was locked in a life and death duel.

The two Newtypes suddenly became even faster, firing where they thought their enemy _would be_ even as Kou and Burning watched at the fight in awe. Kou could feel the two pilots implacable lethality towards each other, hammering on his psyche. "How- How can I feel this?" he muttered as his emotions began to respond. With a primal scream, he rocketed forward, firing with everything he had.

"Kid! No!" Burning shouted even as he chased after the impetuous seeming pilot.

Kelly _felt_ the attack coming as the GMs joined the battle. He'd swat these bugs and then kill that Gundam! The scarlet Mobile Armor turned and then streaked off toward the first GM, firing its main cannon, only to feel the pilot react, dodging the attack by the barest margins. Suddenly, he realized what was happening. It was the Newtype phenomena... he was becoming a Newtype!

Alex reached further into her own Newtype abilities, firing her beam rifle quickly to force the Val Varo to dodge. Its trajectory changed, just as Kelly felt an overwhelming danger erupt from the Gundam in waves of pure psychic power. The GP01 pulled its beam-saber, dragging the sword length-ways along the Val Varo to catastrophic effect. Kelly Layzner had just a moment to realize his death before the Val Varo exploded like a fusion bomb.

Kou was almost hyperventilating. "What-what was that?" he asked. "Why did he want to fight so badly that he would get in something like that?"

"He was stuck in the past of his past glories; he forgot that the future is always there," Alex said coldly. She launched signal flares, though the Albion should already be on its way back to pick up the teams of Mobile Suits it had left in orbit around the moon.

Cima seethed, but congratulated herself. There was no way that they could catch her now. She slammed her fist down in frustration. That Mobile Armor would have helped greatly in the upcoming fight.

-

Nina Purpleton was going over the records of the battle with Val Varo, whistling to herself. That was when the door chimed. "Enter!" she called out. She continued to tap on the computer, reading the information.

"Hello! How are you... Nina," Kou finished with a little bit of a blush.

"Hello, Kou! I was just going over the telemetry of that last fight. Lt. Pierce is really able to wring the last little bit out of Unit 1," the blonde-haired engineer said with a smile. "It seems like you are starting to run into the limitations of the GM yourself! You've really improved."

"Thanks. It's because of Lt. Pierce." Kou looked worried for a second. "I wanted to apologize that we weren't able to go to that concert."

"That's not your fault, Kou. Though I appreciate your sentiment." Nina frowned as she looked over the data again. She stopped the battle at a key point, looking over the scene from three different angles. "That's can't be right."

"What's not right?" Kou asked.

"When the Val Varo spins here, you and Pierce are already dodging where it is going to fire. That's not possible. Has someone been tampering with these records?" the engineer asked.

"No, Ma'am," Kou answered, slipping back into formality. His activation as a Newtype was a secret that he wasn't supposed to divulge. While Nina had a high security clearance (actually higher than Kou's!) she did not have a need to know.

"But that would mean-" Nina suddenly looked up from her records, narrowing her eyes in deep thought. "Newtype!" She had thought that was just a rumor.

"I- can't talk about that, Nina." In truth, he was a bit scared of his new abilities. It must have shown on his face, as she stood up to walk across her small quarters to him.

"Are you all right? You seem worried," she asked.

"Thanks. I think... I'll be fine."

Nina nodded, but stepped up and hugged him tightly. She was startled at his desperate return of the hug, his breathing ragged. "It'll be all right, Kou."

He almost believed it.

-

The Albion was on maneuvers in the Sea of Solomon just a few days later, doing more training. Burning grimaced as he pushed his GM to the utmost to dodge Kou in Unit 1. For this sortie, Alex was in a Gun Cannon. She's decided very, very quickly that whoever had designed it hadn't thought very clearly on the cannons that required pivoting your MS's entire body to twist left and right. She had reverted to using its beam rifle like a standard GM.

Kou almost growled as he slammed the GP01 forward in a weaving pattern, trying to get a bead on the GM that was skittering in front of him. Suddenly, he felt something change in the suit ahead of him. Burning's heart was frantically working hard, trying to push against the massive G-Forces that the fight was requiring; his vision was blurring.

Alex fired off a flare, signaling an emergency cut-off of the fight. "Burning! Do you need medical attention?" she shouted. She had sensed the distress coming from him also.

He twisted his mouth in anger, but cut his thrusters. "No. No, I'm fine. I just pushed it too hard there."

Alex drifted her Gun Cannon over to his GM's side. "You aren't fine, are you?"

Burning slumped in his cockpit. "Nothing that I can do anything about right now, Lieutenant."

"I'm going to have to pull you from active flight duty. You almost passed out there," she replied. Alex sat in the humming Gun Cannon as they headed back to the Albion for a long few minutes. "I'm going to request that you be transferred to a desk job."

"I understand." It was something all pilots hated to see happen.

"It's not _quite_ the end of the world, Burning. If you decide to stay in the military, you can always head back to train snotties like Kou here. Wait, that really is the end of the world, isn't it?" she said with a soft laugh.

"Hey!" Kou called out, sounding miffed.

Burning just laughed. "Yeah, I knew it was coming. I was just hoping for after this deployment."

Alex suddenly stiffened. "Enemy! Nine o'clock high!"

"I see them! Two Geloogs! It's those new suits!" Kou shouted as he referenced those Geloogs that had attacked the Albion after it had first reached orbit.

"Burning, retreat to the Albion. Try to punch a com-laser to the ship and have them send out more suits. Kou, this is your baptism of fire. Don't hold back!" Alex shouted even as she pushed the Gun Cannon, zigging and zagging as the lead Geloog tried to burn her suit out of space. She used the shoulder cannons to range, sending him scattering around.

The second Geloog cautiously advanced to fire on the Gundam, only to see it easily sidestep. Off in the distance, a Zeon Zanzibar cruiser and the Federation battle-cruiser _Birmingham _traded long range barrages, though nothing seemed to come of it. Alex took in the sight of the Federation's flagship, frowning from what she saw happening. She zagged, dodging another attack from behind.

Kou was laying down a heavy barrage, finally nailing the frantically dodging Geloog. On the bridge of her beloved Zanzibar, the _Lili Marleen_, Cima Garahau snarled in frustration as an overly familiar high performance Gundam intruded again on her secret meeting. "Get us out of here! Its carrier is probably around here somewhere."

In a blistering short exchange, Kou and Alex managed to defeat another four Geloogs in rapid order; the Zeon Fleet managed to barely disengage and slip deeper into the floating wreckages just before the Albion's mobilesuits showed up in force. Even, Alex noted, Burning in his GM.

Alex sat in the Gun Cannon listening to the thanks of Birmingham's captain, though it sound a bit false to her ear.

Monsha, Bate, Kou, Adel... I want a sweep through the local area. Burning, get your ass back to the Albion and consider yourself confined to quarters. Have Keith relieve you and come back here ASAP." She had a hard look on her face, ready for him to dare to contradict your orders.

"But I'm a more experienced pilot-!" Burning started to interrupt.

"Do you also want charges of insubordination to be brought up, Lieutenant Burning?" she snapped out.

"No, sir." He let out his breath explosively. Burning turned his GM around and flew off towards the direction of the Albion.

"Damn it, I'm trying to keep him alive," she muttered. She shook her head and started checking the area. She had a feeling that she was missing something critical.

After a fruitless search for an hour, she took everyone back to the Albion so that she could let Captain Synapse know what had occurred.

-

Cima walked into the private offices of Aiguille Delaz, commanding officer of the Delaz Fleet. "Commander!" she called out as she saluted sharply. Her dark eyes took in the handsome features of a man that she'd grown to loath... Anavel Gato, the so called "Nightmare of Solomon."

Delaz received her salute. "Ah, Cima. It's good to see you. Are you ready for your part in Operation: Stardust?" His featured had turned harder since the end of the One Year War, a fanatical gleam lay within his own eyes.

"Of course. But I have information that the Federation may have deployed a Newtype force," the female officer said. "My contacts found nothing official, but found it surprising that a trainer from the Jaburo Special Institute was assigned to the carrier Albion."

"The JSI?" Anavel asked, thinking hard.

"We are not sure, but we believe that it performs a similar function as our Marduk Institute," Cima explained.

"One pilot can not make that big of a difference," Delaz noted even as he thought over the situation. "This changes nothing."

She frowned at that pronouncement, even as she personally disagreed with the assessment. "Very well, sir."

"I hope you aren't going to be blaming all of your setbacks and failures on this so called Newtype, Cima," Anavel said snidely.

"Let's see if you say that after meeting her, Gato." Cima smiled darkly even as she saluted and exited the office.

"Is there anything to worry about?" the Nightmare of Soloman asked.

"No. We are unleashing forces that no mobilesuit will be able to stop. She is just covering all of her bases in case something goes wrong," Delaz explained. Cima Garahau was a disliked addition to his plan. The only reason she was included was her ships and mobilesuits were desperately needed. "Are you ready to do your part, Anavel? Is Unit 2 ready to rip the guts out of the Federations Naval Review?"

"In a heartbeat, sir."

-

The Federation's Naval Review, the mightiest gathering of fighting ships in Earth Space, was finally happening after years of delay. Jaburo and the Luna II had finally replaced all lost ships from the war, the mighty robotic forges churning out warships at a staggering cost and pace. Konpeitoh was a major military base of the Earth Federation Forces now, the vanguard of Earth's defense.

Rows of Salamis and Megallan battleships were lined up in perfect rows, lights flashing as they floated past the flagship of the fleet. That was when a bright flash of a super-flare lit the area as the Delaz Fleet attacks. Operation: Stardust had officially commenced.

Captain Synapse couldn't believe that the Zeon renegades could be so audacious. "Launch all mobilesuits. Unit 2 is probably involved and must be stopped."

"Ensign Uraki, GM Launching!" came Kou's voice. His GM screamed out the left launcher of the Albion

"Ensign Keith, Gun Cannon Launching!" came Chuck Keith's voice as his MS launched.

"Lt. Monsha, GM Launching!" Bernard Monsha shouted out in his over-ribald way. "Wahooo!"

"Lt. Bate, GM Launching!"

"Ensign Adel, Guncannon Launching!"

"Lt. Peirce, Gundam Unit 1 Lauching!" Alex said as the catapult launched her into space. "Monsha, you're in charge of Squad 2. Chuck, Kou; you are with me. Let's hit these guy hard." The mobilesuits split up into two sets of trios, the Gun Cannons falling back to give long range support to the two lead suits.

The Delaz Fleet renegades were clashing with the GM standard mobilesuits that were guarding the edge of Konpeitoh space. The new suped-up Geloogs were proving a tough nut for the regular pilots. Even though they only had machine cannons, they were more than a match for the mass produced GMs. Unfortunately, they were supported with only Zaku IIs and a few Rik Doms, which hurt their effectiveness.

RX-78GP01 was held back to the speed of her slowest mobilesuit to get to the theater of battle, which was the Gun Cannons, but she didn't begrudge them one bit. It was a massive snarl of dog-fighting mobilesuits that the Albion's forces slammed into like a hammer of thunder.

"Let's do it!" Alex shouted as Unit 1 jinked as a Geloog that had been watching for reinforcements tried to pot her at long range. Unit 1 smoothly fired three times, gutting the Geloog and causing it to explode.

"Hey, that's a Gundam!" an officer in a Rik Dom II shouted. "I call dibs on that!" The heavier mobilesuit rocketed toward Unit 1, firing a spread of rocket super-bazookas in rapid sequence.

Alex pushed the lever on the thrusters full up while spinning, dodging the heavy explosives. She slammed it back around in a brutal move that would cause many pilots to just black out. Unit 1's beam rifle spat death even as the Rik Dom belatedly realized that he had attacked a tiger. He and a Zaku exploded as Unit 1 blurred through their area in a whirlwind of death.

Kou suddenly dodged left while rotating even before his warning system could tell him of a Geloog that was attempting to shoot his GM Custom in the back. "I won't die easily!" he shouted, firing his beam spray rifle and sheared off a leg, arm and the holing the Geloog.

"Good job, Kou!" Keith called out, even as his Gun Cannon sent off blistering attacks into the Zeon formations.

Suddenly, both Kou and Alex felt a flash... of overwhelming danger. Alex realized immediately what was going on. "This is a diversion!" she shouted. "Unit 2 is going to fire!" Her Gundam rocketed forward as she pushed the machine's full vernier system to its absolute maximum.

Kou and Keith tried to keep up, but the new additions on the Gundam let it far outstrip them. Alex felt as the Unit 2 reached its attack range. She wasn't going to make it! Flashes of the future started to overwhelm her. She suddenly threw her Gundam into a full stop behind a huge piece of debris just as the tactical nuclear warhead powered Unit 2's blast shot out, thermal and EMP super-bloom being used to devastating affect.

The fleet was totally unprepared for the effects as ships were either heavily damaged or disabled. A full sixty percent of the fleet was knocked out of commission for days, just as Delaz had planned.

Alex appeared as the thermal bloom was dissipating, heading towards the location of the attack. Maybe she could still capture the unit or its pilot. Her hopes were dashed as she saw three Zaku retreating at full speed even as Unit 2 exploded. "Damn it!" Alex shouted.

The battle was over, as Delaz's strategy worked perfectly.

-

The Albion, for its 'failed' efforts was basically told to get lost by fleet command. On the bridge of the Albion, Captain Synapse let his crew and pilots know of his plans. "I've been ordered to independent patrol and to my original duties before we were assigned to hunt down Unit 2," the captain explained. "So we will be heading to Anahiem's space factory satellite."

Nina Purpleton jerked at that. "Unit 3?" she asked.

"The Albion was assigned to test all three units. Those orders have come back into effect, though I'm not sure that fleet command is aware of that." Synapse kept his expression bland.

"Sir! We are getting a fleet wide alert that Delaz forces have colony jacked to the two colonies that were being moved. It appears they have forced them to crash into each other!" the communication officer called out. "The Fleet is setting out from Konpeitoh in pursuit!"

"What's the new course for the colonies?" Nina asked worriedly.

On the tactical table, the courses were calculated. One colony would end up in a very wide, safe orbit while the second colony was sent towards the moon. Alex narrowed her eyes. "So they used the force of the crash to knock them into different orbits?"

The engineer explained that this was indeed the case. But Captain Synapse read off their orders, that they were to allow the Colony high-jack to be dealt with the pursuing force.

Alex was looking at the simplified Earth Space layout. "This doesn't make sense."

Everyone looked at her. All of the MS pilots, the bridge crew and the civilian were wondering what she was thinking.

She continued, "Luna is a stupid target. There are many sympathizers of the Zeon cause there. Why destroy it then with a colony drop?"

Nina responded with a sad shake of her head. "It's the only one they could reach. The trick they used could only get the colonies moving in a few directions."

"Terrorizing your sympathizers." The MS pilots all frowned, even as Synapse started thinking things over. "Why can't they move it without smashing it against another colony?"

"The nuclear reactors are moved cold and locked down. Those are very unique reactors, so you can't use off the shelf supplies for them," Synapse said suddenly. "So they don't have enough energy to ignite the fusion engines for long burns. You'd need a huge external source of power to light up those engines."

"So what large sources are out there?" Alex asked still thinking

Burning spoke up. "Any large military base, for their fabricators." He touched a few buttons, lighting up Luna II and Konpeitoh.

Nina gasped. "And Van Braun! The colony there build ships, so it has a powerful reactor to meet all of its needs."

"That's it! They are going to trigger a burn for a slingshot around the moon. They could send it anywhere!" Alex said as she snapped her finger.

Kou suddenly gasped. "They'll slingshot it around for a colony drop on Earth. It's Operation British all over again!" All of the Federation officers reacted to that with the same cold reaction. Millions had died when Sydney was wiped off the face of the Earth.

"And the pursuing fleet is going to run out of fuel! It's a cunning plan," Synapse said as he went over it. "And with me being persona non grata with fleet command, they aren't going to listen to me playing the part of Chicken Little." His face was stony as he gripped the hand-rest of his acceleration chair. He was looking out into the star filled sky through the bridge windows.

"Captain? Where would they run out of fuel?" Alex asked suddenly.

"Probably about just after making their own slingshot around the Moon," he replied.

"You could just _suggest _that a few tankers make a rendezvous near there. If it's all unofficial, I bet fleet command won't stop it. And if its a colony drop on Earth, we need every available ship and weapon," she said as she continued to think hard. "I bet the Delaz Fleet will really meet up after the Moon. They need to conserve their fuel too."

"Very good, Lt. Pierce. If we get through this alive, I'm going to see about recommending you for command training," Captain Synapse said as he still thought furiously. "Monsha, I'm going to assign your team to baby-sit those tankers once I've talked to a few captains. The Albion will continue to La Vie En Rose to take charge of Unit 3. I'm positive that the Delaz fleet will assign mobile armors to fight their way through to Earth."

-

Alex watched as Anaheim Electronics' premiere space dock loomed up ahead of them, listening intently to the EFSF on the radio as they chased the runaway colony. The entire fleet was caught flat-footed as the colony suddenly fired its engines and swung around the Moon, leaving the fleet chasing them on fumes. Monsha, Bate and Adel had launched hours ago and had met up with a few tanker captains that owed Captain Synapes a favor or two. They were in for an uncomfortable twelve hours as they lived in their mobilesuits.

They finally finished docking and she led her three remaining MS pilots to accompany Captain Synapse and Nina Purpleton. At the airlock, they were met by Lucette Audevie, the project manager for RX-78GP03 code-named "Dendrobium." They were discussing 'testing' the new war machine when a EFSF officer entered the receiving lounge.

"Ah, Captain Synapse," he said, saluting. "I had heard you were assigned to the testing of the new units. But I'm afraid orders have changed and we are going to be unable to turn over Unit 3 at this time. Security concerns, of course."

Synapse narrowed his eyes. "Why wasn't this transmitted through proper channels?"

Major Hepburn just smiled nastily. "It should be getting there, though I'm afraid that your security clearance is not high enough to be told the deeper reasoning behind it."

Alex had a disastrous feeling, but could not tell the direction that this would take. "I am amazed at that. Captain Synapse has a Top Secret Beta clearance," she finally said.

"Yes, yes. He is a very trusted person within the EFSF, but this is limited to only Alpha-Two clearances on a need to know basis," the major explained, nodding his head.

"Then you won't mind if I double check those orders?" she asked politely, remembering a time when her old mentor had almost been killed asserting her security clearance.

Hepburn just looked at her stupidly for a moment, even as the pilots and the two civilians started to wonder what was going on. "I'm sorry, even if you had Alph-Two clearance, you are not need to know," he said while smiling thinly.

"You are correct, yet according to regulations as a holder of a Alpha-Zero clearance, I have authorization to review any Alpha-One or lower material without reserve," she responded instantly.

Nina and Lucette just blinked while Kou gulped. Hepburn smile had turned into a scowl. "What poppycock! A mere lieutenant with an Alpha-One clearance? Soldiers! Arrest this traitor!"

"I would be very careful about arresting someone without verifying that claim, Major Hepburn! It could be surmised that you were trying to hide certain information... treasonable." She was staring right at him, her eyes coldly locked on his own under the brim of her uniform hat.

The soldiers had stopped as the lowered their rifles to arrest her. Captain Synapse narrowed his eyes. "Our duty is clear, soldiers. Verify Lt. Pierce's security clearance at once."

She handed over her identity card to be read by the soldier while Hepburn stood there, looking eye to eye unflinchingly.

"Her security clearance clears, sir!" the soldier called out as he handed back her identification.

"I would like to verify those orders now, sir," Alex asked in a flat tone. She felt his anger, then his intention to kill them all in cold-blood.

He reached for his pistol even as she stepped forward. Her hand stopped him from raising the pistol, pushing it to the side even as it cracked a shot off. That was when Burning slammed his tough fist right into Hepburn's glass jaw, knocking him out cold.

"Arrest this man. I will want every-one's signed affidavit on this incidence. Lt. Pierce, I think you may have helped avert a disaster here." Captain Synapse had a grim look. He knew that their future was now terribly uncertain, with enemies from within and without.

-

Monsha was sitting in his GM Custom being incredibly bored. Six mega-tankers full of fuel for the EFSF were sitting on the near side of the Moon under tight communication control. Bate was in the other GM Custom, studying his thermal sensors. "Boss, I got a flare off from the near side of the Moon. I think we have our first customers of the day."

"Hot damn! Now we get to blow up some stupid Spacenoids!" the mustachioed officer cried out gleefully. "Let's go tear them a new hole!" He pushed his GM to full thrust, rocketing towards the heat sensor.

The first warning that the Musai had was when its sister ship suddenly exploded as three Federation mobilesuits intruded on their flight path. "What the hell? Where did these guys come from? Launch our mobilesuits! Fire! FIRE!" he screamed.

A GM ignited its beam saber and smashed it into the bridge before any other commands could be given, killing them instantly. The other GM and a Gun Cannon finished off the second Musai before it could even launch a single mobilesuit, taking out its engines with catastrophic effect.

Adel grinned fiercely. "Yeah, that's the ticket. Looks like Captain Synapse knew his stuff." The tankers would be safe for a while yet.

-

Anavel loaded himself into the Neue Ziel, a mobile armor that was gifted to the Delaz Fleet specifically for Operation: Stardust by Haman Karn of the Axis. They were already running into pockets of resistance, but he knew that Admiral Delaz would have planned for the fight all the way to Earth. The sound of the Federation Fleet falling out of formation as they ran out of fuel was music to his ears. But at this moment, he only had eyes for the intercepting fleets in his way, not the ineffectual buffoons behind him.

So he would have been shocked to see fuel tankers materializing out of the void to refill that Fleet only minutes later. The captains of those mighty warships realized _someone_ had figured out what was going on and was taking steps, but they were amused when they discovered that a lowly captain of a single ship has 'suggested' that these tankers just happen to be right here at this time... under the guard of half his mobilesuits of his command.

Just two hours later, Gato learned that the pursuing fleet was now almost in range of the Delaz Fleet. "How could this have happened?" He threw himself into the attack, his ship-sized mobile armor cutting a swath of destruction through the fleet as they realized the dangerous enemy they had dragged to heel.

Admiral Delaz was wondering the same thing. "It's for certain? The chasing fleet caught up to us? They should be running on fumes!"

"Long range telescopes shows a convoy of tankers leaving the area, sir!"

Delaz started chuckling, startling his bridge officers. "Ah, I see someone started figuring this out sooner than most. I wonder who that cunning captain was." He leaned back as the thought long and hard. The chances of the Delaz Fleet fighting both into and out of the jaws of the Federation now were minuscule. "Inform all officers that the rules of engagement under Ragnarok are now given. Tell Captain Jules that he is to start charging Mjolnir."

"Sir?" his ship's captain asked uncertainly.

"We have no hope without that untested weapon. Captain Jules' ship must be protected at all cost. Have it hide in the shadow of the colony until the last second. For Zeon!"

-

Cima was starting to feel a bad premonition on the bridge of her beloved command. "The Ragnarok rules of engagement? Does Admiral Delaz really think things have turned so dire already?" she asked. They were only six hours from the point of no return. The huge colony was floating serenely within the clutches of the Delaz feet, but that would soon change. She started to think things through for _her _best benefit. "Signal the Azro, with my compliments to Captain Toru." She had some planning to do. Stellar south should be a good break-away direction, she decided.

Because the most important thing in her universe was Cima Garahau.

On another ship, another meeting was about to take place. Alex knocked on the door to a private officer's quarter. At the muffled 'enter' she let herself in.

"Lt. Burning," she said as they snapped a quick salute to each other. "I know I'm probably not your most favorite person, having revoked your flight status-" She winced as she saw him glare at her. "But I need every moblesuit, even one with a pilot that might kill himself. I'm asking you to volunteer for a possible suicide mission even against your medical condition."

"I should just tell you to go to hell," Burning replied. "But I don't have anything to live for any more."

She glared at him. "Like hell. What about Kou and Chuck? They value you a lot! Hell, I think Kou thinks you can walk on water sometimes! If you go out there, at least try to live for your friends! And don't think I hadn't heard about you and Captain Synapse's late night 'medicinal' chats. He'd probably knock your block off if he heard you talking like that."

Burning looked away uncomfortably, but finally nodded. "Right," he mumbled.

"Report to your GM, Lieutenant Burning. We have a colony-drop to stop!" she ordered, snapping him a salute.

Just minutes later, Alex floated out of an airlock and over to the massive RX-78GP03. It was almost a quarter the size of the Albion, but built around a fairly standard Gundam that was latched into the front of the massive, blocky 'flower of death.' She slid into the units cockpit and strapped in. The hatch closed and the 360 degree viewing system activated. "Albion, this is Alex Pierce, Gundam Unit 3. Preparing to launch!"

Massive mynovski generators whined to life as the heavy-thrust engines came to life. Alex was going over the massive checklist of weapons, arming each group after verifying that it was combat-ready. "Are those mag-clamps set up?" she asked the normal-suited Mora Bascht.

"A-Okay!" was the flight engineer's reply. "Just don't take any sharp turns. I don't want you losing my new boy-toy!"

"I'll be sure to let Keith know his new nickname!" Alex replied.

"I heard that!" the Gun Cannon pilot yelled out. He moved his Gun Cannon and grabbed the two clamps that had been attached for him.

Kou snickered. "Ha! I bet you are just upset that she's saying it publicly." He moved Unit 1 onto another set of magnetic clamps.

"Pipe down, you two. You need to keep your mind focused on this fight," Lt. Burning said. "We want to show these Zeon bastard renegade that you can't just restart the One Year War." His GM slid into its own clamps and locked itself down.

Alex had them sound off, making sure that all three mobilesuits were tethered down. "Captain Synapse, are you going to be all right without us for a while?" she asked over her comlink.

"We'll be fine as we'll be right behind you," the captain reassured as he set his own helmet ready. "Just do your utmost to break their resistance before they reach the point of no return."

Mora yelled at all the technicians, "Get out of their way! They're ready to launch."

Alex finished toggling the last safeties. "Alex Pierce, Gundam Unit 3, Launching!" she shouted as she shoved the thrust levers all the way forward.

-

Gato finished off another Magellan cruiser with his out-sized beam saber. The lamentations of the dying Federation soldiers were a balm to his soul after the defeat of Zeon during the One Year War. So he was listening closely, smile still on his lips when he heard a Delaz fleet ship screaming for help.

"We have an unknown force heading towards the colony!" the captain screamed, just before his voice cut off to static.

Unit 3 dropped off the three mobilesuit parasites and shifted its main beam cannon to the next Zanzibar ship. Alex tracked the shot for the .5 seconds the beam cannon fire, almost cutting the ships engines off. "All right! Let's do this!" she shouted, rocketing the massive Gundam towards an approaching group of Zaku and Geloogs.

The Zeon group started firing at the mobile armor that the Federation had fielded as it seemed to effortlessly weave between attacks. The lead Zaku exploded from the standard rifle that Unit 3 could deploy for use by the core Gundam. But the worst was when the Gundam Unit 1 and a souped up GM Custom slammed into them, supported by a Gun Cannon.

Kou yelled as Unit 1's rifle fired almost continually, shredding two more enemy mobilesuits. At the feeling of being attacked from behind, he drifted right and then left to avoid a Geloog just before it exploded from Burning's GM.

"Don't get over-confident!" Burning shouted. "This is a big fight, conserve your power and yourself."

That was when the Neue Ziel nearly vaporzied his GM. Even the near miss with the beam cannon had shredded his armor with micro-particles.

"Lt. Burning!" Kou shouted, even as his Gundam danced through the weaving fires from the massive mobilesuit. "Keith! Can you retrieve him?"

"Kou! Focus on the mobile armor!" Alex shouted, firing an ineffectual beam cannon that hit the mobile armor's I-field. But it certainly got his attention, rocketing towards her like a vengeful angel.

"For Zeon! For Operation:Stardust!" Gato shouted as he fired at the Federation's crude approximation of his mobile armor.

Unit 3 danced out of onslaught even as it deployed two packs of micro missiles. "Less talking, Gato! You aren't facing a rookie this time!" she shouted right back. The two massive armors unlimbered their beam sabers that could cleave small cruisers in twain, smashing together.

"Who are you, that thinks they can stand in the way of the glory of the Zeon press for freedom?" the Nightmare of Solomon shouted, trying to push the strange Gundam back.

"Right, because freedom through genocide is the _right thing to do!_" Alex snarled back, quickly slamming the controls over to allow the Gundam's mobilesuit unit to fire two hyper-bazookas right into the surprised Neue Ziel's armored hide, pushing it back.

"What?" That comment had pissed off Anavel Gato. "How dare you judge me-" he started to shout when he was interrupted by the massive Unit 3 trying to carve his Neue Ziel in half with its beam saber.

"Bullshit, Gato! It wasn't the Federation that started using nukes and nerve gas on civilian targets! All your kind can think of is 'how do I use my next weapon of mass destruction!' You make me sick to be a human!" she shouted right back as they broke apart, anger suffusing her. Her beam cannon hit him, forcing him back even through his I-field as they started maneuvering for position at full speed. "For the ghosts of those slaughtered by Zeon pride, I'll have justice today!"

Kou whistled. "Wow, she's really pissed off now!" Gundam Unit 1 danced to the side as another group of Zeon mobilesuits joined the fight.

The ten suits thought they had the strange Gundam dead to rights when it suddenly began weaving between their shots. Then it started to fire back, knocking off targets one by one in a blur of motion.

After five more mobilesuits had been destroyed, one of the less bright members shouted out, "He must be a Newtype!"

Cima heard that on her bridge. "I guess I'll have to defeat that Gundam before we can leave," she said to no one in particular. She headed to her custom Geloog, not really worried about the upcoming fight.

Federation Magellans and Salamis cruisers were starting to range in from the chasing fleet, their commander's out for blood for being out-maneuvered by the Delaz Fleet. Long range beam bombardment started to hammer into the Musai and Zanzibars of the Delaz Fleet.

Through it all were the two mobile armors, fighting for everything they were worth, their movements so fast and furious that no one could keep them in sight, much less attack them. Gato had found himself on the defensive for once, an unusual feeling. "What sort of soldier are you to fight with the unclean masses?" he shouted desperately as another hyper-bazook slammed into his Neue Ziel, impacting its heavy armor.

"Unclean masses? I prefer the term innocent civilians, elitist scum!" Alex shouted right back. As the Neue Ziel deployed it's long grappler, she sheared it lengthwise before it could destroy her I-field generator. "Try your preschool tricks on another sucker, Gato!" Unit 3 suddenly deployed a scattering of micro-missiles from its cavernous weapon bays that burned across the surfaces of the off-white mobile armor.

Gato was screaming in rage. Why couldn't he destroy that federation mobile armor? "Why won't you die?" he screamed. Just as his Neue Ziel broke through the barrage it was skewered by a massive beam saber at the end of Unit 3's manipulator. "Noooo!" he screamed, just before his mobile armor exploded.

Captain Synapse called out, "It's too late! We've reached the point of no return!" he shouted, even as Monsha's team had returned to them.

"The point of no return?" Kou replied stupidly.

Unit 3 flashed by in a full burn, spinning like a very nimble dancer. "It's not over yet Kou! We've still got hours that we can use to break up that colony! Don't stop fighting yet!" Alex shouted, even as she headed towards the nearest formation of Delaz ships.

The Geloogs in front of it saw her in time to fire, only to miss as the overly large armor dodged. It's beam cannon, clearly as powerful as any battleship's cannon, fired three times into the nearest Zanzibar. It lit up in a nuclear detonation.

"Alex!" Kou shouted. "I'm down to ten percent charge on my rifle!" He went through the Geloogs like a knife through butter, not even hearing the outraged screams of Cima as she died with her command.

Her eyes danced across the readouts, showing that she was nearly in the same predicament. "Retreat to the Albion for re-arming!" She hated that she had to retreat, but they just weren't able to keep pressing forward right now.

An hour later, Mora and her ground crew had both Gundams refitted. "Kou! Monsha! Bate! Linkup to the magnetic clamps so we can get back to the fight," Alex ordered as she injected a dose of stimulants into her body. "Burning, keep the Albion alive until we get back."

"Aye aye, sir!" the older pilot responded.

They were flying back at full speed when Kou noted something strange in front of the colony. "What's that?"

It was massive, even wider and taller than the colony racing towards it.

"The deployable solar system?" Alex noted in shock. But she wasn't feeling the overwhelming danger coming from it, but from the colony. "Release and help out with the mop up!"

The three mobilesuits dropped off, even as the Gundam Unit 3 red-lined its engines. It streaked off towards the front of the colony.

Aiguille Delaz noted the creeping damage indicators on his ship. "Destroy that Solar System array!" he shouted. "All ships, attack them head on!" The last five ships under his command followed his command ship at the head of his attack.

On his own Zanzibar cruiser, Captain Jules noted the time. "It is time to earn our princely sum," he said. "All engines to full power! Take us directly into the center of that formation! Start the counter on Mjolnir! Prepare to launch!"

The cruiser followed Admiral Delaz on his suicidal charge towards the Federation's Solar System Weapon. The Federation admiral in charge just chuckled at that. "We'll show all of Earth Space that you can not stand against the Earth!"

"Sir! We are reading a massive energy buildup within the protected ship in the center of that formation! Gravity is starting to spike within it even as a massive creation of minovski particles- its some sort of super-weapon!"

"Fire the Solar System Weapon! Now!" the admiral shouted.

"The mirrors aren't aligned yet! Two minutes to ignition!"

Delaz's fleet was firing for all it was worth, trying to find the control ship, but it was hidden behind the mirrors of the Solar System. Then, suddenly, a Zanzibar cruiser exploded. The explosion sent everyone on Admiral Delaz's ship to their knees if they were not strapped down. "No! Not that unit! Not now!" Delaz shouted, even as Unit 3 ignited its super-sized beam saber and cleaved right through the bridge of his flagship.

"-ten-nine-eight-" the weapons officer yelled to Captain Jules.

Alex shoved her I-field emitters to over-load full as her thrusters blared her right towards certain death. If she could just divert enough of the blast away from the Solar System Array, the Colony could be destroyed before it landed again on Earth. "Never again!" she shouted even as she followed her instincts on her crash-course with destiny.

RX-78GP03 struck the Gravity Sink Bomb, codenamed "Mjolnir" just as it ignited. For just a second, a micro-blackhole with a massive spin existed, only to unleash an incredible torrent of cosmic rays that only exists in stellar phenomena. Her I-field passed through the event horizon at the instant of its creation, but the force of the explosion was diverted back towards the on-rushing colony.

The Solar System finally stabilized and then fired its blistering hot beam. The colony started to heat, then blister, then boiled. Finally it started to lose cohesion. The colony started to peel from the front to the back as more and more energy was pushed into its systems.

That was finally too much as the colony broke up.

Kou finally realized that they'd stopped it. Oh, sure, large pieces would still rain down on the North American continent, but the largest would only be in the hundreds of feet. Property damage would be huge, but life itself would continue. "We did it! We really did it!" he shouted.

The Albion would go down in history as the ship that saved North America. Its two Gundams would be immortalized for their daring sacrifices, blunting the creation of the Titans. Kou would go on to fight against the Zeon again, along with other Newtypes.

-

Not "The End."

http://en. of characters:

Lieutenant Senior Grade Alexis Pierce – main hero of the story. Sandy hair and blue eyes, 5'10". Very short hair.

Colonel

Lieutenant-Colonel

Major

Captain

Lieutenant 2nd (Lieutenant Junior Grade)

Lieutenant 1st (Lieutenant Senior Grade)

Sergeant Major

Sergeant

Corporal

Lance Corporal

Private

Earth Federation

Ensign Kou Uraki

Ensign Chuck Keith

Captain Eiphar Synapse (Lt. Colonel)

Ensign Chap Adel

Dick Allen

Raban Karcs

Ensign Alpha Bate

Lt. Jg. South Burning

Lt. Jg. Bernard Monsha

Mora Bascht

Gene Corini

Nakaha Nakato

Ivan Pacerof

Akron Halida

William Morris

Jamitov Hymem

Bask Om

John Kowen

Green Wyatt

Stephen Hepburn

Hawkins Marnery

Peter Scott

Jacqueline Simone

Y Bicok

Lt. Jg. Mark Torres

Delaz Fleet 

Aiguille Delaz

Anavel Gato

Karius

Wily Glardle

Cima Garahau

Deatroaf Kocsel

Kult

Neuen Bitter

Kelly Layzner

Captain Dry

Axis Zeon 

Haman Karn

Yuri Hassler

Civilians 

Nina Purpleton

Paula Guilish

Lucette Audevie

Clehna Hacswel

Latteura Chapra

Nick Orville

O'Sullivan


End file.
